Winning Westminster Beagle Takes A Dump Centerstage At Madison Square Garden

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — Cats were supposed to be the populist heroes of the 2017 Westminster Dog Show. But it soon became clear the cats were just there to distract us from this season's real rebel hearts: the beagles.

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First, over the weekend, agility competitor Mia — or Mia the Distracted Beagle, as she's now affectionately known in households across America — took it upon herself to remind the cultish world of dog breeding and showing, as well as all of us who stand idly by, that these animals who we've bred and pruned and prodded to perfection are, in fact, still animals.

Watch and swoon:

Then, on Tuesday night, leading up to the "Best in Show" finale, a small male beagle (whose common name we couldn't immediately track down, but whose typically strange show name was listed in the Westminster log as "The Land Of Smiles At Copper Rose") drove Mia's point straight into the ground.

Not two minutes after winning the junior showmanship title Tuesday night with his human, Mallori Seifert, the beagle popped a squat and took a dump centerstage at Madison Square Garden.

No matter which dog would be officially selected as Westminster's "Best in Show" late Tuesday night, the real competition was over by 8 p.m.: This year had gone to the beagles.

Lead photo by Simone Wilson/Patch